Search Results for: Refused

The other high-heel shoe has dropped. With no end in sight for the Hollywood writers’ strike, the 34th annual People’s Choice Awards will slash its red carpet, it was confirmed Wednesday. Organizers, meanwhile, announced a “reinvention” of the telecast as a pretaped, “magazine-style format” show: Think two-hour special, rather than Christine Lahti-caught-in-the-bathroom live TV. People’s Choice spokeswoman Jeannie Tharrington said the show requested, and was denied, a waiver from the Writers Guild of America that would have allowed union writers to work on the Jan. 8 CBS telecast. Later, WGA spokesman Greg Mitchell said the union had taken no action… Read more »

Rocker Scott Weiland was charged Wednesday with driving under the influence of drugs in a car crash last month, prosecutors said. The 40-year-old rocker was arrested Nov. 21 after crashing his car on a highway. He refused to take a blood or urine test as required by law, city attorney spokesman Frank Mateljan said. The Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver singer, who had a DUI conviction in 2004, could face eight days to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine if convicted of the misdemeanor count, Mateljan said. Weiland, who is free on $40,000 bail, was to be… Read more »

The scope of a yearlong download promotion planned between Pepsi and Amazon, Billboard has learned, is among several developments forcing further consideration by Warner Music Group (WMG) and Sony BMG Music Entertainment to follow EMI and Universal Music Group’s lead in distributing music in the MP3 format. News of the Pepsi promotion, which is expected to be announced Feb. 3 during the Super Bowl, coincides with an ultimatum from Wal-Mart asking major labels to supply walmart.com with their music in MP3, sources say. Labels, meanwhile, say they have been watching the success of an MP3 test UMG began in August;… Read more »

According to a report in the venerable entertainment industry trade rag Variety, Zucker, president and CEO of NBC Universal, asked Apple for a cut of iPod revenue as part of the failed negotiations between the two companies over a contract extension for the right to sell NBC’s shows on iTunes. (Thanks, Valleywag.) If that’s true, wow. A source familiar with NBC Universal’s negotiations confirmed that the company asked for a slice of iPod revenue but only after Apple refused to budge on variable pricing. “Apple sold millions of dollars worth of hardware off the back of our content and made… Read more »

Relationships in the entertainment world can be famously fraught. And few are more so these days than the one between Steve Jobs and Universal Music chief Doug Morris. You may recall that Morris recently refused to re-up a multi-year contract to put his company’s music on Apple’s iTunes Music Store. That’s because Jobs wouldn’t ease his stringent terms, which limit how record companies can market their music. Now, Morris is going on the offensive. The world’s most powerful music executive aims to join forces with other record companies to launch an industry-owned subscription service. BusinessWeek has learned that Morris has… Read more »

The British music Web site Gigwise is reporting that Radiohead has sold 1.2 million digital copies of its latest album, “In Rainbows,” since sales began on Tuesday. If true (and that might be a big “if”; see below), the number would be a blow-out, suggesting the wisdom of the band’s decision to sell its wares directly to fans without the aid of a record label. The figure dwarfs first-week sales of Radiohead’s recent studio albums. “Hail to the Thief,” released in 2003, racked up 300,000 sales in its first week; “Amnesiac” managed 231,000 copies in 2001; and “Kid A” hit… Read more »

Elton John said Wednesday that he owns a photo of two naked girls taken by award-winning photographer Nan Goldin that was seized by police at a British gallery over concerns it amounted to child pornography. John confirmed ownership of “Klara and Edda Belly-Dancing” in a statement on his Web site. He said it is among 149 images comprising Goldin’s “Thanksgiving” installation. Northumbria police said the photo was taken from the BALTIC Center for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, northeastern England. They confirmed Tuesday that an image had been taken from an exhibit “to assess whether or not an offense had been… Read more »

Rap musicians and top record label executives defended the hip-hop business Tuesday, telling lawmakers it is wrong to single out the genre for congressional reprobation. Lavell Crump, who goes by the name David Banner, told the house consumer protection subcommittee that picking on rap unfairly singles out the black community. “When it comes down to it, it’s just a song,” Crump said. “Arnold Schwarzenegger is governor of California, but in his movies he killed half of Cambodia and he went to Mars and blew up Mars . . . but that’s OK because he’s a white man and he’s an… Read more »

Special administrators appointed to look into the handling of James Brown’s estate have told a judge that a former trustee may have misappropriated up to $7 million of the late soul singer’s money. The judge agreed that Brown’s heirs could pursue those claims and ordered the ex-trustee to pay $370,000 back to the estate, on top of $350,000 the man repaid last month. State Circuit Judge Jack Early gave David Cannon, who has resigned as co-executor of Brown’s will, 10 days to repay the additional $370,000 and 20 days to pay $30,000 for attorney fees and to produce other documents.… Read more »

Busta Rhymes was sued in New York State Supreme Court on Monday by a Bronx man who alleges he was roughed up by The Big Bang rapper and his posse last summer after spitting on Rhymes’ SUV. The plaintiff, Roberto LeBron, 20, claims he was repeatedly punched and kicked in the body and face by the 35-year-old Rhymes during the wee hours of Aug. 12 as the hip-hopster’s nine bodyguards stood by and watched. LeBron was treated at a nearby medical center for a concussion, split lip and injury to his wrist and later released. Rhymes, whose real name is… Read more »